PSU tabs VCU's Mike Rhoades to be next men's basketball head coach
Penn State's search for their next head men's basketball coach is over. The program announced on Wednesday that they have come to an agreement with VCU head coach Mike Rhoades to lead the men’s basketball program.
Penn State's contract with Rhoades is seven years for a total guaranteed compensation of $25.9 million. He'll make $3.4m this year and his salary will increase by $100K through each year leading up to his $4m salary in 2029.
Rhoades was one of several candidates that Penn State showed interest in during the coaching search including now Texas head coach Rodney Terry and FAU head coach Dustin May.
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A native of Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. Rhoades comes to Happy Valley after six seasons in Richmond with the Rams. In his six seasons, he led the program to a 129-61 record including 72-32 in conference play and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
His salary is expected to be in excess of over three million, while his most recent salary with VCU is not public information, his most recent publically known salary was $1.7 million in 2021.
Prior to his time with VCU, Rhodes spent time with Randolph-Macon (Division III) from 1999 through 2009. He also coached at Rice from 2014 through 2016 before taking over at VCU in 2017. In between his time as the head coach at Randolph-Macon and at Rice, he was also the associate head coach at VCU under then-head coach Shaka Smart.
Prior to his coaching career, Rhoades was a graduate of Mahonoy Area and Lebanon Valley College, whom he led as a player to a Division III national championship in 1994.
This past season, Rhoades' VCU team went 27-8 during the regular season including 15-3 in A-10 conference play, leading the school to both a regular season and A-10 Tournament championship. The Rams were eliminated in the Round of 64 by Saint Mary's (CA) 63-51. Notably, Rams guard Ace Baldin, the A-10 player of the year, does have one season of eligibility left after averaging 12.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 5.8 assists this past season.
Rhoades will take over at Penn State following the departure of Micah Shrewsberry who took the Notre Dame head coaching job last week. The Schuylkill County native will have plenty of work ahead of him as the Nittany Lions entering Tuesday night have just five scholarship players currently on their roster for next season.
The program was already expected to be without their top five scorers from the 2022-23 season in Jalen Pickett (17.7), Seth Lundy (14.2), Andrew Funk (12.5), Camren Wynter (8.9), and Myles Dread (5.5). They also saw the departure of Caleb Dorsey, Dallion Johnson, and Evan Mahaffey to the transfer portal.
The Nittany Lions 2023 signing class, the best in program history also has been completely wiped. After the departures of Rivals100 prospect Carey Booth and three-star guard Logan Imes, the only remaining member of the class is Bradeden Shrewsberrry who one would expect to follow his dad to Notre Dame.
As of Tuesday night, the only remaining scholarship players on the Nittany Lions' roster are guards Kanye Clary and Jameel Brown, as well as forwards Kebba Njie, Demetrius Lilley, and the aforementioned Shrewsberry, for now.
The transfer portal will be key to Rhoades' success with the Nittany Lions especially early on. Luckily for the Nittany Lions, the Pennsylvania native does have experience recruiting players of the portal.
This past offseason, Rhoades landed both three-star point guard Zeb Jackson and power forward Brandon Johns. Johns was one of Ram's top players this past season averaging 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 0.7 assists per game while Jackson had a smaller role, averaging 5.2 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists a game.
He also brought guard Marcus Tsohonis, forward Jimmy Nichols, forward Levi Stockard, and center Brendan Medley-Bacon via the transfer portal during his time in Richmond.
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